Apart from snuggling in your knitwear, you know what is the best part about winter? Relishing winter delights. From steamy hot chocolate to lip-smacking makki ki roti and sarson ka saag, the season comes along with many finger-licking good dishes. One such winter-favourite snack is “Ponk”. While you may know it by other names, ponk is jowar grains that are roasted properly before consumption. A video, on the Instagram page 'hungryshruu', shared by a food vlogger from Gujarat, shows the making of this snack. The clip begins with a few workers sitting in a field, with a few stems of sorghum plant. One of them can be seen rubbing the stems in hot sand, which is also a way to roast it. Next, another person puts it inside a plastic bag and beats it with a stick so that jowar grains are collected in it while falling out of the stem. Then the grains are strained through a utensil in a manner that its peel and sand are separated from the grain.
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Once done, the video shows a worker collecting it on a plate and topping it with aloo bhujia, green chutney, and white chutney and then mixing it all properly. While plating ponk it is again topped with aloo bhujia.
Sharing the clip, the food vlogger detailed the dish in the caption. She wrote, “Ponk is fresh tiny green Jowar grains that are harvested during a brief period of winter (December to February). It is very popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Hurda grains are crunchy, tender, and juicy and are either roasted or cooked in another way before consumption.”
The comments section was flooded with many users revealing if they had tried this snack or not. Many users were quick to say that they call this dish “Hurda.” A comment read, “It's called hurda in Marathi.”
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Some said that in the state of Punjab, sorghum plant is used to feed their cattle. In addition, some also claimed that the dish is very popular in Rajasthan and Haryana, as a user wrote, “Punjab mein is ko animal's ke chaare ke liye beejte hai, pehle ke bajurg buhat khate the lekin aaj kal ke nhi... Rajasthan aur Haryana me aaj bhi khate hai.”
Another user commented, “Ponk in Gujarati... The amazing thing that you get only in winter.”
A few pointed out good hygiene while making this dish, as a user said, “They may be poor, but they are more hygienic than some parts of Indian street food.”
Not only in North India, but this dish is popular in the South as well. “Even in North Karnataka, we eat it. We eat it with groundnut chutney and sev. It tastes great!” another wrote.
Have you ever tried this dish? So far the video has been played more than 13 million times.